Looks like we may be getting those Hitachi hybrid camcorders sooner than expected. Hitachi’s Europe site has product pages for the Hitachi DZ-HS301 and Hitachi DZ-HS303 up and active. If you missed it last time, these hybrid camcorders record footage onto your usual MiniDVDs, but also feature built-in 8GB hard drives. Think about it, record all your video to the hard drive, select the best scenes and burn them to a 30 minute MiniDVD. What’s not to like?
The Hitachi DZ-HS301 features a 15x optical zoom and a 2.7″ widescreen LCD. The included battery lasts about 1 hour. 1 megapixel stills can be recorded on the 1/5″, 1.3 megapixel CCD. The DZ-HS301 also features a passive accessory shoe. DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW discs are supported. Audio is recorded in 2-Channel Stereo Dolby Digital.
The Hitachi DZ-HS303 ups the ante with a larger 1/3″ sensor and 3.1 megapixel stills. Zoom is reduced to only 10x optical. The included battery is longer lasting, though, and provides twice the battery life. LCD size remains the same, but an active accessory shoe has been added.
On the highest quality mode, 110 minutes of footage can be recorded to the internal hard drive, which can then be directly transferred to MiniDVD for viewing in your DVD player. USB 2.0 connections are also included on both camcorders for connection to PC or Mac.
These camcorders will be available in November, and I’m sure you can expect U.S. models to be announced soon, as well. The technology on these camcorders is pretty slick, now let’s just hope the quality is there, too. Pricing for the DZ-HS301 will be 699 Euros (~$900 U.S.), and the DZ-HS303 is going to go for 999 Euro (~$1,279 U.S.).
Product pages (click “DVD-Kamera” in the left column)
UPDATE: You can see the DZ-HS303 product page in English by going here. Click “DVD Camera.” Looks like the German page is the only one with both camcorders listed. This is probably because of the IFA in Berlin.
I bought a hitachi camcorder DZ-HS303(S) from Japan. It came with all assessories and software. I can connect the camcorder to TV and see the recordings, but can’t see any from my PC. My PC is FUJITSU pentium 4 and has windows xp. I installed the software DVDCAM software CD-ROM DNO 1002 (ImageMixer 3),but can’t see.
Please let me know what is the problem, how can I transfer to PC and copy to another CDs. I appreciate your advice on this regards
i lost the software disc that came with my hitachi hybrid model no DZ-HS 300A - how can i get another copy
dr collini
Hey Sethsiri,
Have you tried importing videos using the Image Mixer software, Coz, i have the same problem but it works perfectly fine when i import videos from my camcorder directly onto my preferred folder using Image Mixer. Good Luck with that
Hi, Ive recently started working on a little film with a bunch of students from drama and media courses with my new camera but I can only access the files through imagemixer3 for dvdcam on my computer. I have access to iMovie, iDvd, Final Cut Pro…etc but it will not allow me to open the files in these programmes.
Am I stuck with this?
Are there any other programmes where i can edit further than cutting and pasting bits together?
Please help!
shoezy@gmail.com
The image mixer 3 editing screen is to big for the computer screen also i want to know how to combin clips into a full movie ? can someone help ?
ive got one of these on layby but ie read a fair amount of reviews that dont think much of it. it looks good and sounds great from the hitachi site and all but people who review it dont seem to be thrilled about it. does anyone no the real deal?
I’ve got one of these camcorders but imagemixer 3 only detects this camcorder on my wife’s xp notebook, but does not on my vista desktop. Help
Hi dear, could you help me? I bought a hitachi camcorder DZ-HS 503 from Japan. It came with all assessories and software(Image Mixer3). I can connect the camcorder to TV and see the recordings, but can’t see any from my PC.If I click Image Mixer, it shows An unidentified program wants access to your computer and imx browser has stopped this program, My PC is Toshiba windows vista. I installed the software DVDCAM software CD-ROM DNO 1161 (ImageMixer 3),but can’t work.
Please let me know what is the problem, how can I transfer to PC and copy to another CDs. I appreciate your advice on this regards pls. send me a mail on my email address thanks.deeppant@hotmail.com